Lab 3

View My Hometown in a larger map


The neogeography map above is a detailed map of my experiences as a child in my hometown, Chicago,IL. Neogeography allows amateur users to create their own personalized map with information both relevant and meaningful to them. The beauty of these personalized maps is that it allows creators to leave out unneeded and excess information. Therefore, all the information provided is at the creator's discretion and is more relative to their personal life. Another way neogeography is useful is by educating users about their surroundings. By mapping specific locations that are relevant to them, they become more aware of the area around which they are primarily focusing on. All of these aspects are what allow neogeography to be so useful.

While it does have many positives, neogeography also has its fair share of pitfalls. The greatest of these pitfalls could be putting blind faith in an amateur who created a map. Much like the website Wikipedia, anyone can log on to Google Maps and create and edit their own information. In neogeography, this could translate to unreliable information presented on the map. Amateurs using this technology are no where close to providing the valid information a trained professional can. Therefore, many of these amateur maps can not be taken as 100% correct as they may contain many defects and unreliable information. Also, these maps contain personal biases on what particular people find interesting and/or the best of a given category. For example, my opinion of what the best Italian restaurant may not be a shared sentiment amongst the majority of people. These biases must be taken into account when viewing someones map, as their opinions should not be taken as valid truths.

Despite theses pitfalls, neogeography gives amateur map users a medium to communicate their personal experiences and information relative to their life.